BCCI scraps Champions League Twenty20 tournament

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced its decision to scrap the multi-nation Champions League Twenty20 tournament (CLT20) with immediate effect.

BCCI published a statement on Wednesday morning explaining the "tournament’s limited public following" as the reason behind the governing council's decision to discontinue the tournament.

The multi-nation Twenty20 tournament launched in 2009 with the Australian Cricket Board and the South African Cricket Board being the co-administrators along with the BCCI.

The decision comes a day after the verdict given by the Indian Supreme Court's judicial committee, to impose a two-year ban on Indian Premier League teams, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, after finding their owners guilty of involvement in malpractice.

Chennai Super Kings are also the reigning CLT20 champions after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2014 edition, which was played in India.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said that despite the CLT20 being a great platform for various leagues around the world, it did not sustain the interest of the fans.

“This has been a difficult decision as the CLT20 provided added context to a number of domestic T20 competitions around the world such as the Indian Premier League in India, Big Bash League in Australia and South Africa's Ram Slam T20," he said.

“It was a fantastic platform for players from around the world to showcase their talent and the participating teams thoroughly enjoyed the experience over the last six seasons.

“Unfortunately, off the field, CLT20 wasn't sustaining the interest of the fans as we had hoped.

“This decision was made after consultation with all our commercial partners and meeting the contractual obligations of all parties involved.”

Thakur thanked the parties associated with the CLT20, and revealed that further details will be revealed soon.